Start Where You Are

Parker enters Ames house, cussing about President Trump for his EPA budget cuts. These cuts have laid him and thirteen other employees off, but they also represent the loss of hope for institutional combats to climate change.

Play Title: Start Where You Are

Author: E.M. Lewis

Publisher: Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts

Anthology: This play is part of a collection entitled, Where is the Hope? Edited by Chantal Bilodeau

Synopsis of Play: Parker enters Ames house, cussing about President Trump for his EPA budget cuts. These cuts have laid him and thirteen other employees off, but they also represent the loss of hope for institutional combats to climate change. Parker yells about the current administration, saying how all the money is going to a wall along the Mexican border. He explains the environmental damages this wall will place on nearby flood plains, animal migrations, and greenhouse gas emissions. Through this short play, Ames tries to convince Parker to come plant trees with him to start a forest nearby. Even though it may only be a tree, it is the embodiment of the idea that every little thing helps combat the detriments of climate change.

First Performance Date: Unknown

First Producer: Climate Change Theater Action 2017

Performance History: This short play has been performed at various venues across the world as a part of the Climate Change Theater Action 2017. Most venues were found on college campuses such as, Randolph Macon College and The College of Staten Island.

Biography of Author: E. M. is a playwright and librettist. She is the recipient of a Hodder Fellowship from Priniceton University, Steinberg Award (Song of Extinction), and Primus Prize (Heads) from American Theater Critics Association, Ted Schmitt Award from Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, and Oregon Literary Fellowship in Drama. Her epic Antarctic eco-play Magellanica premiered at Artists Rep 2018. Lewis is published by Samuel French, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild. She lives in Oregon. [Taken from Where is the Hope? By Chantal Bilodeau].